In recent years, a portable printer and copying apparatus have been put on the market. For example, Japanese Unexamined Utility Model Publication No. 58-196145/1983 discloses a conventional basic technique in such a portable printer.
The above disclosed technique relates to a recording paper holding apparatus which is used in a cylindrical scan recording apparatus as a forerunner of a portable printer. As shown in FIG. 24(a) and 24(b), the recording paper holding apparatus is arranged so as to cylindrically hold inserted recording paper 102 along an internal circumference of a cylindrical frame 101 and carry out recording with a point of a recording needle 104 which is extended from a driving section 103 provided in the middle of an inside of the frame 101 brought into contact with the recording paper 102. The driving section 103 is rotatable on an axis of the frame 101 and is capable of transferring along the axis.
However, in the above-mentioned conventional recording paper holding apparatus, miniaturization of the apparatus main body is limited, so there arises a problem that application of the conventional apparatus to portable image processing apparatuses, such as a portable printer, a portable copying apparatus, is extremely difficult.
In other words, the copying paper holding apparatus is of a construction that the recording paper 102 is fixed and the recording needle 104 is moved. For this reason, in the case where the recording paper 102 is held, if a length of the recording paper 102 is longer than the frame 101, the recording paper 102 loses its stability when recording is carried out on the recording paper 102 which is stuck out of the frame 101. Therefore, the frame 101 should be always longer than the length of the recording paper 102, so there arises a problem that miniaturization of an apparatus cannot be realized.